From an architectural point of view, Touggourt is one of the most curious towns in Africa, the labyrinthine native quarter being penetrated by long, dim tunnels, just large enough to permit the passage of camels, and running beneath the houses themselves. In places the walls of these subterranean passageways are honeycombed with little booths and shops, just as in New York establishments of a more pretentious order open on the subway. The houses, their walls unwhitewashed and unpierced by windows, are built of blocks of sun-dried mud, wisps of the straw used in their manufacture still protruding from them, with domed roofs of the same material. Seen from the top of one of the numerous minarets, the maze of tortuous lanes and alleys, the black mouths of the tunnels, the hundreds of earth-brown domes, and the mud walls, of the same monotonous color, give the impression that one has wandered into a town inhabited by some gigantic species of mole. The native town is indescribably filthy, unkempt, and foul of smell, its streets littered with refuse, swarming with whining mendicants, scrofulous children, and great numbers of savage yellow dogs. But the French quarter is very neat and clean, with broad sandy streets lined by double rows of palm-trees; the inevitable Grande Place, deep in dust and with rather discouraged-looking vegetation; a sprinkling of European cafés and trading-establishments; and two hotels; a well-appointed and comfortable one operated by the Transat and a considerably less pretentious establishment called the Oued Rir. For the blasé tourist, fresh from the casinos, dance-halls, and _cafés chantants_ of Biskra, Touggourt holds few attractions, though one may take some really delightful rides through the extensive date plantations, the most fascinating vistas unfolding themselves at every turn of the road. The horses, however, far from being the beautiful Arab steeds of which the poets sing, are poor gaunt creatures, hard of gait and mouth, while the high, broad-seated native saddles, with their small stirrups and short leathers, might have been used with great effectiveness as instruments of torture by the Spanish Inquisition.